Orwell Township Couple Faces Charges

Candis Marie Vargo, 25, and Scott Matthew Vargo, 24, both of Orwell Township, face charges for endangering the welfare of children and for not properly restraining their aggressive dog. At about 8:35 a.m. on June 6, state police received a call about a child riding a tricycle in the middle of Route 187 east of Rome. The caller, Michelle Lantz-Carter, indicated that she had pulled off the road in an attempt to recover the child when she was confronted by an aggressive pit bull, later identified as Bo-Bo. She jumped back into her car and honked the horn and yelled to frighten the dog and get the child off the highway.

A nearby resident, Patricia Evans, heard the ruckus from the rear of her home and exited her front door to see the child in the road. She ran out and scooped up the two-year-old boy, who was wearing only a soiled diaper, and was subsequently chased by Bo-Bo to the door as she carried the child to her own residence. When the dog started running around the neighborhood, Lantz-Carter was able to get out of the vehicle and join Evans and the toddler inside the house. The women suspected that the child belonged to a family across the street and contacted the police. Trooper Norman Strauss reported that he was immediately confronted by Bo-Bo when he arrived on the scene. After conferring with the two witnesses inside Evans’ home and observing the neglected two-year-old, whose face was also dirty, Strauss contacted Children and Youth Services, called for assistance, and was joined at the scene by Trooper Joseph Mitchell.

At about 9:20 a.m., Candis Vargo exited her residence and approached Mitchell and asked if he had seen her child. Strauss confronted her and asked where she had been, and Candis reportedly replied that she and her husband, Scott, had been sleeping and that her five-year-old son woke her up to ask where the toddler was.

She apparently conceded to police that the child had disappeared about a month before and that she had found him playing outside. Police confirmed that the pit bull was the property of Scott Vargo, who told police that he had been sleeping during the entire ordeal.